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Friday, February 06, 2009

Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

I swear, I did try and photograph my Cannelloni efforts, but squishy pasta tubes just aren't very photogenic. I even went photo-bank surfing and discovered that many photographers resort to using uncooked tubes for photographs, but I know my readers are food savvy and would spot such deception in 2 seconds flat.

Here is the official San Remo recipe, which you might prefer to rely on (!) and below is the version I made and the nutritional digits for it.

Avail yourself of:10 Cannelloni tubes (always use the 'instant' ones, unless you want to mess around with pre-cooking)

Mix the following together in a bowl:250g reduced fat Ricotta (I use the Perfect Italiano brand)250g frozen spinach - thawed in the microwave and drained if it's mushy. If you buy those frozen cubes, it's about 2 cubes. Realistically can use as much or as little as you want, depending on how much you like spinach!1 whole eggpinch of nutmegsalt and pepper

Stuff the mixture into the tubes. The easiest way to do this is to get a clean plastic bag and cut one of the corners off then use it to squeeze the mix into the tubes. Or you could just use a teaspoon.

Line up your filled tubes single file in an appropriate baking tray and pour a 400g can of chopped tomatoes over them making sure that the pasta tubes are fully covered (the tubes need to absorb the moisture from the tomatoes in order to cook properly - sometimes it takes more than one can).

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of grated cheddar over the top.

Cook at 200C for about 30 minutes or until the pasta is soft. That's just enough time to reply to a few emails and browse a couple of favourite blogs like Kek and my new addiction, The Recessionista - times may be tight, but this is no excuse to wear trackies outside of the gym. Sara T may have an exemption due to being on BABYWATCH. Any day now little O, I'm sure you've been in there waaaay longer than the usual 9 months...And now, back to the scheduled Cannelloni stats:

Nutritional info per single tube when prepared as above:

Calories: 130Protein: 8gCarbs: 14gFat: 5gYou can check the full nutrition data profile here and assure yourself that it's a nutritional marvel, as are most recipes that include spinach. Popeye must have had a good nutritionist.

About Me

About Me

Welcome to Fit to Blog. My name is Sara
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I live in NZ and I am into health, happiness, travel, philosophy, business and blogging. In real life, I wear many hats: I'm a consultant to the food and supplement industries, business owner, MSc student (Human Nutrition) at Massey uni, dedicated Aunty, catlady and queen of my kitchen. This blog is a way for me to share my passion for healthy living in a world that is sometimes a little crazy. I love connecting with kindred souls, so please feel free to lurk on Fit to Blog or even drop me a comment or an email. Enjoy!